Dangote, Unilever, five others cut 1,281 jobs in one year – Reports
Seven firms, including Dangote Sugar Refinery, Unilever Nig Plc and Nigerian Breweries have seen their combined workforce reduce by 1,281 between 2022 and 2023, according to findings by The PUNCH.
This is according to an analysis of the firms’ annual reports which details the change in workforce statistics after every financial year.
The job cuts implemented by the firms are reflective of sacked workers and also members of staff who left voluntarily but have not been replaced due to strategic business reasons.
According to the data, Dangote Sugar Refinery led the line, cutting its workforce by 675 (workers).
A breakdown of the company’s employee data showed that in 2022, the company had 8,993 employees, including 6,015 contract employees and 2,978 permanent employees. By 2023, the number shrunk to 8,318, comprising 5,408 contractors and 2,910 permanent staff.
While speaking at the company’s Annual General Meeting last week, the President of Dangote Industries Limited, Aliko Dangote said that the depreciation of the local currency was the company’s biggest challenge in 2023.
According to him, the domestic operating environment was harsh, being an election year that saw a new government sworn into office on May 29, 2023.
The business mogul also noted that many manufacturing companies were affected and reported operational losses arising from fluctuations in the value of the Naira against the US dollar.
In the same vein, Nigerian Breweries cut its workforce by 14 per cent, from 2,685 employees in 2022 to 2,305 in 2023.
The Managing Director of the company, Hans Essaadi, during the brewer’s pre-AGM media briefing which was held recently in Lagos had said that the strain caused by the forex crisis and other economic shocks forced the company to embark on a rightsizing exercise at the end of the first quarter of 2023.
According to him, high forex rates, decreased consumer demand, and increased gasoline prices left a devastating mark on its 2023 financial performance.
He noted that other factors that played a contributory role in tanking the company’s profit by 859.6 per cent included high food inflation, which affected the price of sorghum, decreased consumer demand due to eroding disposable income, and the cash scarcity that was experienced in the first quarter of 2023.
He said, “The devaluation of the naira put a strain on our balance sheet and also had an impact on our P & L.
“The unavailability of the dollar meant that we had to go to the parallel market to make sure that we could pay the bills of our suppliers. This again put additional stress on our balance.
